Leo's confessions
by leggo lover 99
Summary: Leo was keeping a secret from his bros- his leg hasn't actually healed and Raph manages to find out. Basically involves embarrassment and comfort for our favourite blue banded turtle! READ AND REVIEW. Contains brotherly fluff. Set after spirit quest.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, this is my first attempt at a Family/ hurt comfort/ fluffy story so don't kill me if it isn't great.**

 **Hope you enjoy.**

 **Chapter 1**

It had been an hour since April's family farm had disappeared out of sight, as the team began their journey back to New York City, and at last, everyone had fallen asleep- save for Casey, who was driving. Leo lent his head back against the cold metal wall of the party wagon and felt a small smile reach his lips. Finally they were heading home.

However, there was still one thing Leo needed to take care off before they got back.

"Casey Jones is a giant puck head." He whispered, knowing that if the boy was listening, he wouldn't be able to ignore the comment.

Nothing. The radio must be too loud, the thumping tunes drowning out any other sound.

Leo checked his youngest two brothers once more to check they were sleeping, before he nudged Raph.

"Huh?" the red banded turtle sat up groggily, "Wh, whatsa going on?"

Leo put a finger to his lips, gesturing his brother to be silent.

"Raph, I need a word with you."

Raphael looked around the van at the other turtles then at the two humans up front.

"What do ya want?" He rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn, looking confused at the privacy.

Leo knelt down and muttered,

"I just want to thank you, Raph."

Raph's eyes widened,

"What for?"

"For the past months," Leo began to look embarrassed, "if it weren't for you- I probably wouldn't have recovered as quickly. I just wanted to say thank you."

Raph blinked, appearing to digest what had just been said. He froze for a moment longer then suddenly reached out and pulled Leo into a tight hug, surprising his elder brother immensely.

"You really had me worried, bro." Raphael whispered back, "I didn't think you were ever gonna wake up."

The two brothers met eyes and the stress from the past months gently slid away. At last they were all together again, and soon, Splinter would be back with them. They shared a smile, yet Raph saw a slight waver in his brother's expression- a flash darted across his eyes, and when Raph moved his gaze away, he saw that Leo was attempting to take his weight off of his just healed limb.

Unfortunately, Leo caught his gaze.

"What." His tone became sharp as he pulled out of the embrace.

Raph tipped his head to one side,

"You're still not healed, are you Leonardo? You lied when Don asked you this morning." Raph jabbed a finger at his brother's shell, "Your leg still hurts, doesn't it?"

Leo silently pleaded Raph to lower his voice. Yes: it was true that his leg had healed, but it still throbbed on and off.

"I slept funny?" he tried, but the red banded turtle's glare made him shut up. "Alright- it does still hurt a bit- but I'm not going to let a little pain stop me."

Raph crossed his arms, "I know you won't, Leo, but what if you're aggravating it and it only gets worse. What you gonna do then? You may be stuck holed up somewhere while we're fighting some new threat. You see bro- we need you." Leo looked up sharply at these words. His brothers had never directly said that.

"You do?" he muttered, but to his surprise, his brother just blinked back.

"You didn't know?" Leo shook his head, "Are you thick or something bro? Where would we be without you?"

Leo listed the things off on his fingers,

"Probably still in New York; Ready to fight again in under a month rather than four; With more training practise; a stronger leade-"

A hand clamped over his mouth.

"You shut up right now Leo." It was Donnie. _When did he wake up?_ Leo thought.

"Don's right, Leo, there is no way we could have a stronger leader."

"What's going on?" There was a screech of brakes and everyone slid forward. Great, now Casey and April were up too. Only Mikey was left sleeping- well, until Donnie kicked him lightly.

"Leo has something he wants to tell us." Raph growled and at once, all eyes fell upon Leo.

"Dude? What's happening?" Mikey queried, sitting up.

"It's nothing." Leo snapped, spinning to face his stubborn brother, " _Right,_ Raph?"

"Wrong." This shocked the blue banded turtle. The technique usually worked, "Leo's still injured. He didn't want anyone to know as he thought it would hold us back."

Casey laughed, receiving an elbow in the ribs from April, "What? He's kept us at that farmhouse for the past four months- what's a couple more- OW!" April slapped him this time. He didn't try anything else.

"Leo. Can't you trust us?" Donatello asked, "Why didn't you say anything?"

Leo sighed and slumped to the floor. "We need to find Splinter, save the city and the people, and we have to get Karai back. We can't afford any more setbacks."

Raph opened his mouth to say something, but Donnie intervened.

"Start the engine Casey. We've come this far, we may as well carry on."

Leo looked up at his second youngest brother in gratitude. He knew there was an alternate motive, but he was thankful for the focus to be moved off himself.

Donnie knelt down next to his brother.

"Can you take off your knee pad Leo? I need to take a look."

Reluctantly, the leader did as he was told, revealing a thick layer of bandages around the joint.

"For support." He muttered weakly, feeling the hot glares from his siblings. The subject was dropped.

The smartest of the turtles unwrapped the bandages and inspected Leo's knee, his fingers delicately probing the area.

"Ah…" he sighed, "And it all becomes clear."

"What does?" Raph snapped, a hint of concern showing on his face.

"The bone snapped- hence the reason you had trouble walking to start with, Leo- but when you were out we focused on your main injuries- not your leg- so by the time we came to it- it had already healed, but it did so wrong." Leo blinked at him, and gestured for Donnie to continue, "So that means whenever you put pressure on it, your bones are grinding together, creating the pain you're experiencing."

"Can you fix that?" Leo tentatively asked, attempting not to sound too desperate.

Donnie Looked at the area again before saying, "I think so… The easiest way would be to- _beak_ the bone again and set it so it heals properly."

Leo's eyes boggled.

"How long will that take? We need to get back to New York!"

Donnie's face grew hard, his medical authority triumphing over Leo's determination to the mission.

"Do you want to be in pain for the rest of your life? All we have to do is camp out somewhere for a single week more, then with your mutagenic DNA you should be ready for action."

"A week…?"

"A week." Donatello looked over his shoulder to Casey, "Find a pull in. We're camping."

There was a groan, but within a couple of minutes, the van pulled across and rolled to a halt.

"Right- everyone but Raph and Leo, out."

Leo gulped quietly,

"Are you sure it will work?"

"Sorry Leo, but it's the only way. Raph? Can I have one of your sais?" Leo nearly blacked out on the spot.

"What are you going to do with that?!" he whispered hoarsely.

"Cut you open and then yank your bones apart." Donnie paused, "You're going to bite down on it- what else do you think I was going to do?" he turned to Raph, "Hold him steady, I'm going to administer some antistatic so it won't hurt."

There was a sharp prick on Leo's arm and instantly, his pain drifted away.

"In three, in two, in one…"

There was a loud crack and Leo was swallowed by darkness.

 **I'll update as soon as possible!**

 **REVIEW please with how to improve or just your general thoughts.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Day one**

"He fainted. I can't believe it, he actually _fainted_!"

"Uh, Raph, I did just kinda re-break the bone which has been giving him pain for the past month or so. I think even you would pass out at that."

There was a huff and the sound of the party wagon's door opening then slamming shut.

Groaning, Leo opened his eyes slowly, allowing the light to spill through his lids. In front of him, facing the opposite way, was Donnie.

Leo went to move, but a sudden sharp pain exploded from his knee, causing him to gasp louder than he wished, making Donnie spin suddenly.

"Leo! Don't move you shell brain!" the second youngest turtle hurriedly dropped to his knees next to his elder brother, "I haven't had time to wrap it up properly yet!" He met Leo's pained gaze, "I guess I didn't administer enough anaesthetic did I?"

Leo gave a half wince, half smile as Donnie pulled some bandages and other medical stuff from his box and began carefully applying thick layers of padding and bandages to his knee.

"Now Leo- if you're gonna heal this time, you _have_ to tell me even if you get the slightest pinch, ok?"

The blue banded turtle shrugged, but to demonstrate how serious he was, Donatello tapped Leo's knee lightly, creating a new wave of fire.

"Did that hurt?" Donnie crossed his arms.

Grudgingly, the eldest turtle nodded.

"See?" The purple banded turtle gave one of his signature goofy grins, "How easy was that?"

Leo shrugged, "How long till we can get going, doctor?" He asked sarcastically, hating the fact he was being wrapped in cotton wool, both literally and metaphorically, by his brother.

"I would say…" Don fastened the bandages with a safety clip, "five days- more if you don't rest your knee." Leo sighed, there was no winning.

The doors of the van opened again and Raph sulked in, Casey's hockey mask clutched in one hand and a long, solid stick in the other. He shut the door with a slam, turned around then froze.

"What?" He growled, then realising Leo was awake held out the stick, "A crutch- since you turned your old one into firewood." He teased, but the eldest was not amused.

"Uh, Raph," Donnie ventured, "Why do you have Casey's mask?"

Raph grinned, "That hot head was getting on my nerves, so I thought that we could teach him a lesson for acting like the big bad vigilante."

"What sort of lesson?" Leo dared to ask, but he knew that he would have no say in the matter since the usually calm and collected Donnie was rubbing his hands in glee, ready to pounce on the mask.

"Pink, flowers and of course rats." Raph stated simply, pulling a couple of cans of spray paint from his belt, handing one labelled 'pink' to the scientific turtle, and keeping the one marked 'brown' himself. "You helping, Leo?" he looked up from marking out the mask design, then rolled his eyes at Leo's reluctant-to-do-anything-bad look. "Your loss." He muttered before returning to the task at hand.

Sighing, Leo pushed himself up against the van wall, wincing slightly in the process. Already he could feel the four walls creep up on him, making him edgy and desperate to get a katana blade in hand. He needed to do something, and not just sit there watching two of his brothers paint a mask.

Mentally he walked through each of the katas he knew, imaging the weight of his blade in hand and the noise of the weapon parting air, but that only took a couple of minutes, the ones he knew were fast paced, perfect for sword work. He then went through each fighting technique he knew, remembering the names of each move, weapon and stance he was trained in. That took a little longer.

Once he came to the end of his stupidly long list, he opened his eyes to see Donatello stand up and admire the work, showing it to Leo before creeping out of the van to return it to his owner. Even Leo couldn't help cracking a grin.

There was silence for a few moments before Raph spoke up.

"Seriously bro, you have to stop doing this."

Leo looked up, "Doing what?"

"You know what."

"Tell me." Leo bit back stubbornly, sick of his current situation.

"Thinking of everybody else before yourself."

"That's a bad thing?"

"It is when you end up hurting yourself." Leo didn't have a response to that. "Look man," Raph continued, "We all know what you're like, so if you don't want us to make a fuss over you- get your injuries sorted right the first time around."

"Yeah, Raph, I just had this lecture with Donnie- I get it- I shouldn't be stubborn, I end up endangering the mission." He sighed and pulled his good leg up to his shell, "Don't you see Raph? I _have_ to be like this or else we won't get to master Splinter. I wasn't… there… when it happened so I feel like I've got to help find him as soon as possible." He put his head in his hands, "What if Don's wrong and I won't get better, if I'm going to be stuck as a useless cripple for ever? I-"

"Stop it Leonardo." Raph's voice was firm, using the big brother tone Leo had heard himself use countless times before, "We'll get you through this. Heck, you came back from nearly being dead a couple of months ago. We need you bro, and I think you know that." Raph shuffled next to his brother and looped an arm around him, "Besides, you wouldn't be useless, you'd still be barking orders around wouldn't you?!"

Leo gave a weak smile then, before Raph could react, threw his arms around him, embracing his brother. But that wasn't the most surprising thing, for water began to fall onto Raph's shell, and it took him a while to realise that his eldest brother, the fearless leader, was _crying_!

"Um, Leo? You ok?"

Leo nodded, raising his head, tear streaks running from underneath his mask, "I'm sorry," he quickly rubbed at his face, removing the evidence that he had been crying so quick, Raph would have thought he had imagined the entire episode, if it wasn't for the fact he could never picture his brother crying, "It's just… things have been building up lately…" he blushed, his green face rapidly turning red, "Could we just pretend that never happened?"

Raph nodded and the two moved apart awkwardly, the silence falling thick and heavy. Then there was the scream, the loudest, most horrendous screech that the brother's had ever heard. Raph turned to Leo.

"Wasn't me." He stated simply.

Then the van doors flew open revealing an enraged Casey Jones, hockey mask and all.

"Raph!" he cried, ripping the pink flowered mask from his face, twisting it to show the fat rat painted on the inside, "Iamsogoingtokillyou!" he exploded in one go.

Leo held up his hands, "Wounded area here- please kill him somewhere else."

Raph glared at his brother, both at the mention that Leo was hurt, and because he had just forced Raph to face the enraged teen.

"You'll pay for that Leonardo!" he cursed as Casey reached in and dragged Raph away.

"Bye." Muttered Leo, thinking _maybe this week won't be so bad…_

 **How was that? Review your thoughts or any ways to improve.**

 **If you have a request for a** **slight** **fluffy scene, I have 4 more chapters worth to fill, so please send me ideas! THanks!**

 **LL99 OUT!**


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